Chanukah Prep!

We've been busy here at Stone Gardens getting ready for the Holiday.

We made Chanukah and Holiday Cards:

We made Chanukah treats:

We learned how to press olives olives into olive oil like our ancestors did (thanks to Rabbi Friedman from Chabad's Living Legacy program):

And we're setting up the menorah's for the first night of Chanukah...

Any resident is welcome to bring their menorah to the Ivy Room for lighting every night (the menorahs can stay in the Ivy Room for the duration of the holiday). We hope to have many more menorahs so we can bring as much light into the world as possible this season!

Chag Sameach and Happy Chanukah From Stone Gardens!

Last month we commemorated Veterans Day, as we do every year, with a program in the Ivy Room consisting of patriotic songs, readings and prayers, and recognition of every vet in the room. Each vet got a chance to speak, and we got the opportunity to thank them for their service.

http://youtu.be/KKvUvhoWhq8

A Doggone Correction

As I looked at my last blog post, dear readers, I realized I left out one photograph.Under the passage that read "The picture below has to do with the story of Joseph for next month. Those are the inspirations and ingredients I'm going to work with to come up with "Joseph's Many Colored Sushi Cake," I posted a picture of two of our residents petting Breezy the therapy dog. I, of course, did not mean to imply that either the residents or the dog would be included as ingredients for the next recipe.

The photo should have been this one:

That breeze you feel is one Golden Retriever's sigh of relief.

Also, thanks to Wendy Gray for taking that lovely photo of our snow frosted pond.

Yachad, Bingo, Winter

This past Wednesday we had our second Yachad program of the season. Yachad is a group of special needs young adults and high school volunteers who meet every Wednesday night during the school year. Sara Taub has been this region's coordinator for over 20 years. (She recently received a prestigious Professional Service award from the national organization in NYC.) On the last Wednesday of every month, Yachad comes to stone gardens for a very special intergenerational program. Each year we have a theme. this year's theme is "Food for Thought."
We discuss the Torah portion for the upcoming month - in November we discussed the portion for December 28th - and then we talk about foods that may symbolically represent some idea in that portion. Last month, we discussed this weeks story of Jacob going on a long journey (mainly to get away from his brother), and we talked about foods that might sustain you on a long journey. The list included, nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips and honey, so we came up with "Yakov's Holy Whole Wheat Energy Bars." I gave the list of ingredients to our chefs, and they created what you see above. Well, that's what was left after the program. I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful untouched tray before the program.
The picture below has to do with the story of Joseph for next month. Those are the inspirations and ingredients I'm going to work with to come up with "Joseph's Many Colored Sushi Cake."
Yeah. I know. Don't ask.

These are two of our residents at the Yachad program with Breezy the therapy dog. Breezy belongs to one of the Yachad parents, and comes almost every month.

Switching gears...this is Jocelyn. She's 12 years old and the great granddaughter of one of our residents and she's volunteering every Thursday night for Bingo. She started out as a card checker, but quickly graduated to caller. She's  Terrific!

We've had our first snowfall here. It hasn't really stuck, but look out...winter's on the way! In the meantime, we can enjoy this idyllic photo of our pond at our side entrance.

(I didn't take this photo, but I don't remember who did. Sandy, was it you?)